Revealing All
by shmulia
Summary: Confession #3: "We were betting on you." Naruto and Sakura decide to tell their friends about their relationship, but the news is overshadowed by their friends focusing on a more important issue - money.


They were keeping their relationship quiet.

Not a secret, exactly - everyone had noticed the change in dynamic between Naruto and Sakura; they stood a step closer, and there was a sense of intimacy between them which hadn't existed before Sakura's six month trip – but although their friends would side-eye them and wonder, nobody could quite figure out if there had definitely been a step forward in their relationship.

They had waited so long for each other, and, for just a few weeks, they didn't want to share. They knew that as soon as they told their friends, they would never hear the end of it; details would be asked, hows and whens and wheres which they weren't ready to divulge. As soon as they told the others, there would be more than two people in their relationship. And, after everything, surely they deserved some time to figure out what made them – well, _them_.

It was easy, but it wasn't careless. It was coffee in the morning and arms wrapped around Sakura's waist, kisses on her neck and laughter at two in the afternoon. It was the words whispered heavily between kisses, the feeling of bed sheets gripped between her fingers at midnight. It was _them_ , and it was simple. And for a while, they wanted to keep that to themselves.

But it was a secret too big to hide for long, especially when Ino already knew. She had been sworn to secrecy on pain of death, and had been true to her word; when two of the most powerful shinobi in the world joined forces to make a threat, you took it seriously. However, the reality of Naruto and Sakura's fledgling relationship still became visible to the others; there were too many casual touches – a hand resting on an arm, fleeting blushes, and less-than-subtle winks when they thought the others couldn't see – which simply hadn't been there before.

Nobody wanted to actually _ask_ them on the off chance that the sudden intimacy was the result of a six-month separation, but Naruto and Sakura could feel the ever increasing curiosity of their loved ones.

It was one in the morning when Naruto finally asked the question the two of them had been avoiding for weeks.

"You think it's time to tell them?" Forced casualness laced Naruto's voice as he stared at the ceiling, hands resting beneath his head. Sakura rolled onto her side to face him, propping herself up on her elbow as the covers shifted with her movements. Her eyes traced the figure next to her whilst she contemplated her answer.

It would make it real. Telling the other meant that their relationship was indeed a _relationship_. There would be no going back, no way of reverting to friendship without an audience wondering what went wrong.

Telling everyone would make their relationship official, and the unspoken question, _are you sure you want this?_ hung between the couple in the bed.

A few seconds passed in echoing silence before Sakura nodded firmly.

"Yes."  
***

Since Sakura had returned to Konoha, there had been a tradition of whoever was around in the village going for dinner together on Friday night. It had started as a way of catching up with each other, and had become a tradition to make sure that their group of friends saw each other outside of missions.

Most of them were around this week; when Naruto and Sakura walked into the restaurant, hand in hand, they could see their group of friends in a large booth, waiting for them. Shikamaru had been wedged into the corner next to Ino, who had Sai's arm draped around her shoulders. In the opposite side of the booth was Kiba, who was poking his chopsticks in the direction of the couple in front of him whilst Hinata tried to disarm him. Chouji was beside her, eating a bowl of noodles as Shikamaru sighed at his companions.

Neither Naruto nor Sakura were surprised that none of their friends had waited for them to order, merely exchanging a glance and an eyeroll.

"Hey guys!" Naruto called, waving the hand that wasn't enclosed in Sakura's at the table. His voice caught the group's attention, and six faces turned to smile at the pair before their eyes slid down to their linked hands. There was a moment of stillness in which Sakura and Naruto hoped that their friends were putting two and two together – they _really_ didn't want to have to spell the whole thing out for them – and then Shikamaru grinned at them as they stood by their friends.

" _Told_ you they'd gotten together," he said, turning to face the group at the table.

"I called it," Sai nodded, giving the pair a thumbs up and a wink.

"Oh thank God you're finally telling everyone, keeping this whole thing quiet was _hard!"_ Ino cried in relief, causing the entire group to look at her in shock.

"You knew?" Hinata asked, eyes widening in surprise. Ino folded her arms as she leant back in her seat.

"I'm Sakura's best friend, of course I knew!" she stated.

"I think we're more surprised about the fact you managed to keep it a secret," Shikamaru murmured as he inspected his nails, earning him a slap on the arm from the blonde next to him. " _Ow!"_

"You deserved it," Ino hissed. "Anyway, on to more important business – who won the bet?"

There was a pause.

"Uh, what bet?" Naruto asked the group, who were all suddenly incredibly interested in their food. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, leaning his elbow on the table as he rested his head in his palm.

"We all had a bet going for when you two would get together." His voice was unapologetic even as Naruto and Sakura's jaws dropped.

"You did _what_?" Sakura said, and Naruto's hand wrapped gently around her forearm to keep her from diving at her friend.

"Oooh, Tsunade's going to be so pissed that she lost," Ino said to the group, ignoring Sakura's increasing annoyance as she twirled the end of her long fringe around her finger.

" _Tsunade_ bet on us? _"_

Ino raised her eyebrows at Sakura. "Have you ever known Tsunade _not_ to take a bet?"

"... Point taken."

"I mean, we thought after the last round she might back out, but she actually doubled her bet, which is great for the winner but not so good for our Hokage-"

"Ino?" Naruto interrupted, releasing Sakura's arm and twining his fingers between hers.

"Yes?"

"What do you mean 'after the last round'?"

"Well, nobody won the first time we placed bets-"

" _Excuse me?"_ Sakura growled.

Ino sighed in annoyance at the second interruption, focusing her gaze back to the couple in front of her who were staring in disbelief at her words.

"Everyone had bet on you two getting together after the war ended," Ino said. "But, well, you didn't. The last date that had been bet- on was three months after the war ended, so we reopened the betting pool on how long it would take you to sort yourselves out." Ino paused, her finger stilling with hair curled around it. "If it makes you feel better, Kiba bet on it never happening, but hey, here you two are."

Naruto frowned. "That... actually makes it kind of worse," he said. Kiba shrugged.

"Hey, I thought Sasuke and Sakura were going to make it. All's fair in love and gambling," Kiba said unapologetically. Sakura felt Naruto tense slightly, and she rubbed her thumb in soft, reassuring circles on his hand.

"Well, we didn't," she said shortly, directing a sharp glare at Kiba, who had the decency to look abashed.

"Yes, we know, Sakura; Kiba lost a lot of money betting on you and Sasuke. Boohoo, let's move on," Ino said drily. " _Anyway_ , like I said, because nobody won round one, we reopened the betting pool, and voilà! You've finally made it official. So we need to figure out who won the cash."

Sakura and Naruto frowned in confusion, glancing at each other before looking back to Ino.

"Shouldn't that be easy to figure out?" Naruto asked.

Ino's eyes narrowed at the blonde as she released the curl of hair from her fingers, causing him to step behind his girlfriend for protection. Sakura turned her head, one eyebrow arched in a questioning look. Naruto shrugged.

"She's less likely to kill you," he explained. Sakura rolled her eyes as Naruto slid his arms around her waist, resting his head on the top of hers.

Ino huffed at the pair in annoyance; it was hard to stay mad at them when they looked so damned adorable.

"Yes, Naruto, it _should_ be easy to figure out," she said, her voice steeped in sarcasm. "But because you guys decided to keep the whole thing quiet, the winner depends on whether we consider you two getting together initially as the end of the bet, or if right now – when you guys made it official – is the end of it. Because that changes who won."

The whole group fell into silence as they contemplated this. Sai broke the group's collective thought process.

"So, when did you guys get together exactly?"

Naruto and Sakura's eyes met, and they smiled at each other as they remembered a month earlier.

"The night I came back to Konoha," Sakura answered, not looking away from her now public boyfriend.

"Okay, so that makes a four week difference. Who wins if we end the bet last month?"

"That would be Shikamaru," Hinata said before taking a sip of her drink.

"And if we end it now?"

"Then I think Ino would win," Chouji piped up, chopsticks poised by his mouth, noodles sliding off them into the bowl in front of him. Shikamaru and Ino looked at each other, matching expressions of determination gracing their features.

"Well, _clearly_ we should end the bet now. I mean, they just made it official. A relationship hardly counts until its _official._ " Ino stated. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow.

"Bullshit. They got together a month ago, ergo their relationship began then. So I win," Shikamaru countered.

"No way! Sai, what do you think?"

Sai looked up at his fiercely determined girlfriend as he swallowed some ramen, looking between her and Shikamaru.

"Uh, Ino's right." The blonde girl smiled sweetly at Sai, leaning her head on his shoulder as she grinned smugly at Shikamaru.

"That's not fair, he's your boyfriend, of course he's going to support you!" Shikamaru protested.

"Okay then. Chouji, your thoughts?" Ino asked

"I'm with Shikamaru," Chouji replied with no hesitation. Ino glared at him, head swivelling towards Hinata and Kiba.

"You two are the tiebreakers then. Who wins the bet?"

Hinata and Kiba raised their hands simultaneously in defence.

"Hey, no, we've both lost, this is between you two-"

"Uh-uh, you don't get out of it that easily, Kiba. Who _won?"_ Ino demanded as Shikamaru nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, come on guys, tell Ino I won," he smirked.

"You did _not!"_

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Want to bet? Oh wait, you'd probably lose that one too."

" _You little-"_

Sakura and Naruto, meanwhile, were still standing awkwardly by the table as their friends descended into an argument.

"You know, for something that's basically completely about us, I feel like we're really uninvolved in this whole situation," Naruto stated as their friends bickered loudly, causing other patrons in the restaurant to glare at the group.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed, leaning against him as they watched the chaos unfold as Hinata tried to calm the arguing parties down.

"We could always just go eat at my place. I don't think we're actually going to get served here thanks to these guys," Naruto continued.

"That's a very good point."

"... Do you think they'd notice if we left?"

"Nope."

"Shall we, then?"

Sakura looped her arm through Naruto's and grinned.

"Lead the way!"  
***

Sakura was sipping tea in the kitchen when Ino finally came home.

"So, who won the bet?" Sakura called as her housemate began to stomp upstairs. Sakura heard Ino pause, and then growl what she assumed was "Shikamaru" before she continued her angry ascent to bed.

Sakura could only laugh.


End file.
